Whether they portray the vagaries of love, the bitter pain of loss and regret or the tragic impact of violence upon ordinary lives, these superb stories reveal the insight, subtle humour and unrivalled artistry that make William Trevor the contemporary master of the form.
Published in separate volumes as The Day We Got Drunk on Cake, The Ballroom of Romance, Angels at the Ritz, Lovers of Their Time, Beyond the Pale, The News from Ireland and Family Sins, this volume also contains four stories that have not been included in these collections.
'His prose is various and subtle, His plots adroitly bring whole lives into the view through the keyhole of the story ... He writes about adolescent misfits and unattractive women, about the drab, shaming pain of not being loved .. his imaginative sympathies are generous... a masterly short story writer.' - Sunday Times
'Trevor's greatest skill [is] the tact and precision with which he manoeuvres between societies and dialects, especially between Ireland and Anglo-Ireland... Every story is a totally new beginning' - The Times Literary Supplement
'A rollcall of excellence... Again and again you wonder how does he achieve such consistency and variety... a book to buy and treasure' - Irish Times
'The short story seems to be the medium perfectly tailored to William Trevor's talent... he can pack into ten or twenty pages an astonishing richness of pathos, humour and tragedy' - Francis King
